Canadian Campus Crisis

Aish HaTorah rabbi won't be silenced by York University.

Rabbi Aaron Hoch's story of York University’s threat to sue him for speaking out against a university administration that allowed an infamous anti-Israel terrorist-supporter to speak on campus last week is by now well-circulated. [See National Post, CFRB 1010, and Pajamas Media.]

One thing is certain – Rabbi Aaron Hoch is not a man to keep his mouth shut, especially when what hangs in the balance is the “free speech” of a known anti-Semite on a Canadian university campus.

When Rabbi Hoch, of Aish Toronto’s Dan Family Village Shul heard that former British MP and Hezbollah and Hamas-supporter George Galloway, who was banned from Canada in 2009 for financing Hamas, was due to launch his Canadian speaking tour at York University, he wrote a letter to his 700-member email list, urging community members to take action – namely, to write to the office of the President and Vice-Chancellor at York, call the Dean's office to make an official complaint, and rally against the event.

“One of my main objectives with my community is for them to be active and leaders and stand up to things, whether it is an assimilation issue or a physical threat to the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Hoch in a phone interview on Friday afternoon.

His email, which spread virally, attracted the attention of York’s administration, which sent a letter to Rabbi Hoch, threatening him with a lawsuit for his defamatory characterization of the university in general and York University President Mamdouh Shoukri in particular, about whom Rabbi Hoch wrote “has again showed his amazing tolerance for anti-Semitism and lack of vigilance regarding the feeling of safety for Jewish students on campus.”

The letter was signed by the university’s General Counsel, Harriet Lewis. “This statement is untrue, is harmful to President Shoukri and his reputation, and to that of the university. We consider it actionable. We expect a retraction and apology forthwith,” she wrote.

Rather than respond to the rabbi’s concerns about inviting a Hamas-supporter to speak on campus, the letter took issue with his attempt to elicit a public protest against Galloway’s appearance. Wrote Lewis, Rabbi Hoch’s encouragement of non-students to participate in the protest “… is actionable and may constitute criminal activity.”

“My intention was to support the students to peacefully protest because often these students feel they have been abandoned by older adults,” said Rabbi Hoch, pointing out that it was just last year pro-Palestinian students at York swarmed a group of Jewish students who ended up barricaded in the school’s Hillel lounge.

"I felt it was an attempt to bully me into silence.”

“I found it ironic that York University is providing a forum for Mr. Galloway to advance his agenda, while threatening me with legal action for asking my congregants to peacefully protest this outrage. Something is very wrong with this picture!” he wrote back in a letter that he added to Lewis’s and re-sent to his email list. “By providing a forum for Mr. Galloway, I can only logically conclude that, under the leadership of Mr. Shoukri, York has chosen to show a tolerance for anti-Semitism.”

“The university reacted in a heavy-handed way. I felt it was an attempt to bully me into silence.”

Meanwhile, Galloway’s speech, the first on his 10-city speaking tour across Canada, went ahead on Tuesday, as planned. As did the peaceful protest that Rabbi Hoch inspired, attended by some 700 people, most of them students.

But the speech and the protest against it are not, as Rabbi Hoch says, the major issue at hand, but instead that Galloway’s appearance was condoned by the school’s administration and that he was invited to speak by the school’s student federation, headed by one Krisna Saravanamuttu, a key participant in the pro-Palestinian swarming of Jewish students in 2009.

“The main issue isn’t George Galloway per se, but that the main student union at York is being led by people who are sympathetic to Galloway’s views, and the university is doing nothing about it,” says Rabbi Hoch.

It’s not just a problem of York University, but an issue on campuses across North America and the West. “There is a very serious issue of Hamas sympathizers infiltrating campuses and university administrations that tolerate it,” says the rabbi. “It’s another way of delegitimizing Israel, creating fertile ground for anti-Semitism, and it’s also an insidious way of going to war against western values. It’s very dangerous, and not just to Jews.”

“The most dangerous time comes when anti-Semitic ideas are accepted by the intelligentsia."

This crisis on college campuses should not be underestimated. “The most dangerous time comes when anti-Semitic ideas are accepted by the intelligentsia. There is nothing more dangerous than the indoctrination of students on campus; the intellectualization of Hamas principles by professors,” he says, noting that this was precisely the precursor to the Holocaust. “There is no room for this in the lexicon of rigorous debate and academic expression and if there is, it tells us how normalized anti-Semitism has become.”

Unfortunately, Galloway’s appearance at York University is just one example of the normalization of anti-Semitism on Canadian campuses. The University of Toronto recently accepted and posted a Master’s thesis called “The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism, and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education”, as reported in Pajamas Media.

Meantime, the National Post recently reported on Islamist groups in Toronto that are seeking to create a ‘parallel society’ in Canada.

Rabbi Hoch hasn’t completely lost hope. “There are some beautiful things happening in Canada. Prime Minister Harper has become a leading moral light in the world. At the same time, there are some things to be concerned about in Canada, especially on Canadian campuses. We can’t stay asleep. We have to wake up to what’s going on,” he says. “We should use this story as a wake-up call to do what we can to stand up against threats to the Jewish people and the West.”

Let York University know you support Rabbi Hoch. Write to the Mamdouh Shoukri, office of the President and Vice-Chancellor, York University Research Tower, Room 1050, 74 York Blvd, ON, M3J 1P3 or email mshoukri@yorku.ca, or call the Dean's office: 416 736 5200. Please make sure your letter is written in a respectful and responsible manner.

Visitor Comments: 19

(19)
Melissa,
November 13, 2014 5:06 PM

I have a comment about the forum for FREE Speech on Cdn Universites

Personally, i think Canada needs a law to be passed that speakers who have known to have materially supported radical violent groups are not considered to be safe to speak on Canadian campuses... at least for the time in which these radical groups are ravaging our world. When George Bush, shortly after leaving office, was booked on Canadian soil to give a talk, Amnesty Internat'l in Vancouver spoke out against this public talk and called for his arrest based on grounds of his participation in International terrorism while president of the USA. (I'm not a supporter of Amnesty's current bias on Israel) As Cdns & Americans, and others of the EU, we have to question under what terms we will allow Free Speech & to what end it really serves. When Free Speech advocates sit on the fence with such crowd pleaser statements such as "I'll protect your choice if you'll protect mine" (Gloria Steinham); then we must question what choice we are being asked to protect. Not a new issue, but a revisiting of the same old rhetoric on our 'right' to make the wrong choices as given for us in the Garden: Free Will/Choice to do Good, or to enable Evil.

(18)
Laya,
November 24, 2010 12:39 PM

email sent as requested in the article

Here is what I wrote:
Mr. Shoukri;
What a disappointment that your institution of higher education hosted the likes of George Galloway. Even more disappointing is the response to Rabbi Hoch with threats of legal action. He does have the right to exercise peaceful free speech. While your choices are disappointing, unfortunately, your actions are not shocking. It seems as if Canadian Universities are headed in the direction of allowing free speech only for those they agree with which more and more sides with an element that is against free speech. What remains true is that hate speech is just that no matter how you try to mask it in the intellectual garb of a university.
Now you know for sure that the world is watching, and cares.
Sincerely,

(17)
Anonymous,
November 23, 2010 7:47 PM

I am shocked but not surprised at the Antisemitic situation at York University. I used to attend York University over 10 years ago, when I lived in Toronto. York is full of frum Jewish students, so I still remember my disbelief at seing a "Boycott Israel" sticker on the doors of a main hall. At that time I only remotely knew about my Jewishness. Now as a Baal Teshuva, I feel anger and disappointment at such open Antisemitism on the largest Jewish campus in Toronto. I guess Antisemitism is being covered by a logo of a Free speech and Expression, so called Democracy. I left York after 4 months and went to study at the University of Toronto. There as well Muslim groups would set up their booths and have their "Freedom of Speech".
After reading this article I realize that I am so priviledged to live in Israel, being openly observant and really free. It is well worth it in spite of many difficulties, loneliness and long adjustment period. I will stop complaining and start appreciating my situation. In the meantime I am davening for Moshiach to come and to stay healthy and well, so that all Jews will "gather in Jerushalaim" and would not feel any threat from anyone.

(16)
TMay,
November 23, 2010 3:05 AM

Please note

Please note that York University professors and administration and other universities across Canada are Leftist in Canada and anti-Israel.
Please see my comment on Aish following the article entitled "With Israel, whatever the cost".

(15)
Denise,
November 23, 2010 2:33 AM

Unfortunately Cdn. Jews are still donating large sums to York U

Until my son started attending York four years ago I thought Cda. was the most tolerant country on the planet. When he finishes his degree our family plans to never give one additional cent to York U. I was shocked to read in their latest alumni magazine about Jews still donating large sums. I would die of shame to have a building on that campus named after me or my loved ones.

(14)
neil,
November 22, 2010 1:11 PM

Follow the money

Where is the financial support coming from to support the University & schools like this thruout N. America.? Chances are they are not for public record, and if they are, I sure wouldn't be surprised if funds came originally from the MIddle East, then funneled through on the surface, to so called legitimate Philanthropic Orgs.

(13)
Ramon Fernandez,
November 22, 2010 7:53 AM

It escapes me why an institution like the York University would cuddle and babysit a known supporter of an organization that has expressed time and again to foment destruction, to cause harm and have indeed proven their capacity to do so. Never has it been known that anti-Semitics ever succeeded nor its ideas known to have prospered, ever. It is always a self-defeating act whose lessons are, until today, apparently not learned. It is then quite pointless to prove (though I have to say it nonetheless) that whenever there is large scale Antisemitism, decency declines very fast, always and without exemption, and the world pays for its effects including those who have nothing to do with it.
This may be the world that we are facing if Antisemitism, (like racism) is not put to a stop.

(12)
Anonymous,
November 22, 2010 1:54 AM

Good for Rabbi Hoch. He is a good man to stand up for what is right. Shame on York University. It is a terrible thing that a Canadian university should so lower their standards to such bigotry. I can only hope they will come to their senses.

(11)
Nelson D'Silva,
November 22, 2010 1:47 AM

York University's anti-Semitism

All freedom loving people of Canada need to rise up against the threat of anti-Semitism in some Canadian universities. Silence will only emboldened the usurpers of power in the universities to foist their political views on student that come for studies in disciplines other than Arab politics. Rabbi Aaron Hoch needs to be complemented and supported by every means possible in his endeavour to drive sense into the politicised administration at York University. Heavy handed retaliation from the General Council of the University should not be tolerated. She is using the very tool that democracy has given her to silence the primary goal of democracy to promote free speech. Keep up the good work Rabbi Hoch.

(10)
Shirlee Rosenthal,
November 22, 2010 1:24 AM

Rabbi Hoch

We need more men like Rabbi Hoch to stand up for our people. We will no longer be quiet about anti-semetisim,enough is enough. God Bless him. Shalom Shirlee

(9)
Melanie Jones,
November 22, 2010 12:43 AM

No surprise

When I read this article about a University Administration allowing a known Hamas supporter (and anti-Semite) to speak at the University, then read on to learn the the President of the administration is a man named Mamdouh Shoukri....well NO SUPRISE! And no surprise that a man with such nomenclature would try to silence any criticism (and therefore show his true colours by silencing free speech)! Sorry, but if you know anything about the stealth jihad, and anything about Taqqiyah (the art of deception to further the islamic cause) this behaviour is INSTANTLY recognisable. Don't be fooled by these 'nice guys'...if they support islam, they are about the West's ultimate doom.Keep going Rabbi Koch...you have my support!

(8)
Andrea Levy,
November 21, 2010 6:42 PM

I plan on letting the Alumni Association why I want to be disassociated with York as long as it is an Anti Semetic Entity.

Pathetic.

(7)
Ruth Housman,
November 21, 2010 6:40 PM

virulent anti-semitism on campus

I find it surprising that a university administration will invite anyone to speak who has ideas and comments that are against any group of peoples and surely, it is taken as support of that person's agenda when a university does this. A known anti semitic speaker should not be speaking on campus.
Yes, there are these questions of freedom of speech, but for me, in that freedom there has to be a codicil that involves the freedom of others, to exist, even. Any freedom of speech that involves hatred, the condemnation of Jews or any other group, and to rally others towards hatred, is, in my opinion, a taking away of the essential freedoms of others, as the talk itself is doing just this in aim.

(6)
Rob Kurtz,
November 21, 2010 6:21 PM

Which courtroom?

Dear Mrs. Lewis,
I am prepared to defend Rabbi Hoch with the resources necessary against your bullying threat of intimidation. You should be ashamed of your attack on Rabbi Hoch and your defense of the university in this case. Neither Rabbi Hoch nor the Jewish people will be silenced. Our track record of 3,000 years speaks for itself, we will survive you, your president and campus arab sympathizers.
Just tell us which courtroom you would like to meet in and we will be there.
-The Jewish People

(5)
Janet,
November 21, 2010 4:51 PM

support for Rabbi Hoch

Kol Hakavod to Rabbi Hoch in speaking out against the anti-Semitic actions of York University's administration. The peceful protest you inspired is testament to your courage.Thank you, Aish.com, for telling us about it. I have written an e-mail in your support.

(4)
Adela,
November 21, 2010 4:33 PM

1000 Kudos to Rabbi Hoch!!!

I have enormous respect for those who speak up in times of despicable forced silence to protect the antisemites. Down with politically correct - the precursor of blood conflicts and wars!!! And thank you Jenny Hazan for writing this article!

(3)
Anonymous,
November 21, 2010 2:55 PM

How do we accept to have this type of Universities?

First of all, my congrats to Rabbi Hoch for speaking out. I hope all Canadian rabbis join you on this crusade. Unfortunately York university seems to have been invaded by antisemitism and I would like to know who are the responsible ones for this. It's not new that muslim terrorist groups are infiltrating on campuses and other places in Canada. The truth is that while certain organizations with connections to muslim terrorism, are insisting, or succeed on banning jewish and Israelies professors from the Western Universities, they applaud the acceptance of more muslims and now the arrival of the real representation of hate speech, Gallower . It's so clear!! why people just do not see it! Maybe two reasons: hate or money in the middle.

(2)
lisa,
November 21, 2010 12:36 PM

Hammas today....tomorrow?????

Thank you Rabbi Hoch for speaking out......and thank you to Aish for bringing this story to the public.....I did not know of this incident. Let's hope Mashiach comes soon...like today!!!

(1)
Anonymous,
November 21, 2010 11:26 AM

thank you for your courage

Thank you, Rabbi Hoch, for your courage in speaking out against the acceptance--which amounts to encouragement--of spreading anti-semitism. It is essential to bring awareness of such acts to the community and to the world.

I live in rural Montana where the Cholov Yisrael milk is difficult to obtain and very expensive. So I drink regular milk. What is your view on this?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Jewish law requires that there be rabbinic supervision during the milking process to ensure that the milk comes from a kosher animal. In the United States, many people rely on the Department of Agriculture's regulations and controls as sufficiently stringent to fulfill the rabbinic requirement for supervision.

Most of the major Kashrut organizations in the United States rely on this as well. You will therefore find many kosher products in America certified with a 'D' next to the kosher symbol. Such products – unless otherwise specified on the label – are not Cholov Yisrael and are assumed kosher based on the DOA's guarantee.

There are many, however, do not rely on this, and will eat only dairy products that are designated as Cholov Yisrael (literally, "Jewish milk"). This is particularly true in large Jewish communities, where Cholov Yisrael is widely available.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote that under limited conditions, such as an institution which consumes a lot of milk and Cholov Yisrael is generally unavailable or especially expensive, American milk is acceptable, as the government supervision is adequate to prevent non-kosher ingredients from being added.

It should be added that the above only applies to milk itself, which is marketed as pure cow's milk. All other dairy products, such as cheeses and butter, may contain non-kosher ingredients and always require kosher certification. In addition, Rabbi Feinstein's ruling applies only in the United States, where government regulations are considered reliable. In other parts of the world, including Europe, Cholov Yisrael is a requirement.

There are additional esoteric reasons for being stringent regarding Cholov Yisrael, and because of this it is generally advisable to consume only Cholov Yisroel dairy foods.

In 1889, 800 Jews arrived in Buenos Aires, marking the birth of the modern Jewish community in Argentina. These immigrants were fleeing poverty and pogroms in Russia, and moved to Argentina because of its open door policy of immigration. By 1920, more than 150,000 Jews were living in Argentina. Juan Peron's rise to power in 1946 was an ominous sign, as he was a Nazi sympathizer with fascist leanings. Peron halted Jewish immigration to Argentina, introduced mandatory Catholic religious instruction in public schools, and allowed Argentina to become a haven for fleeing Nazis. (In 1960, Israeli agents abducted Adolf Eichmann from a Buenos Aires suburb.) Today, Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America with 250,000, though terror attacks have prompted many young people to emigrate. In 1992, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 32 people. In 1994, the Jewish community headquarters in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 85 people. The perpetrators have never been apprehended.

Be aware of what situations and behaviors give you pleasure. When you feel excessively sad and cannot change your attitude, make a conscious effort to take some action that might alleviate your sadness.

If you anticipate feeling sad, prepare a list of things that might make you feel better. It could be talking to a specific enthusiastic individual, running, taking a walk in a quiet area, looking at pictures of family, listening to music, or reading inspiring words.

While our attitude is a major factor in sadness, lack of positive external situations and events play an important role in how we feel.

[If a criminal has been executed by hanging] his body may not remain suspended overnight ... because it is an insult to God (Deuteronomy 21:23).

Rashi explains that since man was created in the image of God, anything that disparages man is disparaging God as well.

Chilul Hashem, bringing disgrace to the Divine Name, is one of the greatest sins in the Torah. The opposite of chilul Hashem is kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the Divine Name. While this topic has several dimensions to it, there is a living kiddush Hashem which occurs when a Jew behaves in a manner that merits the respect and admiration of other people, who thereby respect the Torah of Israel.

What is chilul Hashem? One Talmudic author stated, "It is when I buy meat from the butcher and delay paying him" (Yoma 86a). To cause someone to say that a Torah scholar is anything less than scrupulous in meeting his obligations is to cause people to lose respect for the Torah.

Suppose someone offers us a business deal of questionable legality. Is the personal gain worth the possible dishonor that we bring not only upon ourselves, but on our nation? If our personal reputation is ours to handle in whatever way we please, shouldn't we handle the reputation of our nation and the God we represent with maximum care?

Jews have given so much, even their lives, for kiddush Hashem. Can we not forego a few dollars to avoid chilul Hashem?

Today I shall...

be scrupulous in all my transactions and relationships to avoid the possibility of bringing dishonor to my God and people.

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